How to choose nonfiction books for children to read alone from National Geographic Readers, Scholastic, Simon & Schuster

Violette Taylor, a children's librarian, was getting ready for summer at the Capitol View Library, in Washington, D.C., unrolling a bright banner promoting "Fizz, Boom, Read," a children's reading program emphasizing science. She sorted books according to different reading levels in red and yellow carts. And she braced herself for the barrage of questions from parents eager to pick, without help from teachers, the right books for children to immerse themselves in on a hot afternoon.